MEET OUR CLERGY

Rabbi Douglas Kohn

Rabbi Douglas Kohn is our Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth El San Pedro for 2018-2019. Trained as a professional interim rabbi in the processes of change management, at TBE Rabbi Kohn is charged with, in addition to managing all the regular rabbinic duties and needs of the Congregation and its congregants, guiding the congregation through its rabbinic and institutional transitions.

Previously, Rabbi Kohn was Interim Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, AL, one of the largest congregations in the south, and was Interim Senior Rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva, the anchor synagogue in Boston’s western suburbs, in Wayland, MA. From 2014 to 2016, Rabbi Kohn served as Interim Rabbi of the Reform Temple of Rockland/Temple Beth Torah in Nyack, NY. Previously, he was Rabbi at Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino/Redlands, CA from 2001 through 2014, where he steered the congregation through a relocation, capital campaign and construction program, moving the synagogue from its historic site in San Bernardino to a new campus in Redlands. Earlier, Rabbi Kohn served as Rabbi of Beth Tikvah Congregation in Hoffman Estates, IL, and as Associate and Assistant Rabbi at large East Coast congregations in Buffalo and Baltimore.

Concerned with social justice, community relations and Israel, Rabbi Kohn served for eight years on the Reform Movement’s National Commission on Social Action, and was a member of the National Board of ARZA – the Association of Reform Zionists of America. In 2005, Rabbi Kohn was an ARZA delegate to the 35th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, where he participated in deliberations on the future of Zionism, and he was on the ARZA slate for the recent World Zionist Congress in 2015. A speaker at national and regional conferences, especially on Israel matters, health, and teaching Hebrew, Rabbi Kohn also has taught “Judaism” and “The Holocaust” at local colleges.

Rabbi Kohn graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, in 1981, and received his Master’s Degree in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College (Los Angeles) in 1985. Rabbi Kohn was ordained at the Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati) in 1987, from which he also received an honorary doctorate in 2012. He has published numerous articles in the press and Jewish scholarly and general periodicals in his academic interest, American Jewish history, and has written several feature series on his frequent travels to Israel and Europe.

After his diagnosis and treatment for cancer in 2004-2005, Rabbi Kohn focused on writing and teaching about Judaism and health. His first book, on Judaism and cancer, was published in 2008 by URJ Press, Life, Faith, and Cancer: Jewish Journeys through Diagnosis, Treatment, and Recovery. Since then, Rabbi Kohn has traveled broadly to speak on the themes of the book, and to bring support to the Jewish and wider cancer communities. Also, Rabbi Kohn is a contributing author of the textbook, World Religions for Healthcare Professionals (Routledge Press, Oxford, 2009). Rabbi Kohn’s newest volume, titled, Broken Fragments: Jewish Experiences of Alzheimer’s Disease Through Diagnosis, Adaptation and Moving On, was published by URJ Press (2012), and was nominated for the National Jewish Book Award.

Rabbi Kohn is the father of two children, Benjamin and Elena. He resides in Long Beach, CA, and is engaged to his fiancée, Susan R.S. Wertheim.

Cantor Ilan Davidson

Cantor Ilan Davidson has served Temple Beth El since 1995. The youngest in a long familial line of cantors, he began his training at the age of five with his mentor, Hazzan Philip Model z”l. With a strong performing arts background from the University of California, he is also a talented secular musician and contemporary Jewish singer and songwriter. He released his first album, Stained Glass, in 1995.

Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Cantor Davidson claims both the South Bay and Rishon LeZion, Israel, as his home. He brings his love of Israel into his work through pro-Israel activism and leading our congregational tours to Israel. These tours are distinguished by their focus on family, on interfaith aspects of Israeli life and showcase the many facets of this beautiful country. The goal of our congregational tours is to expand understanding of Israel from its role as the Jewish state to a state that is the home to many world religions, bringing the love of this country that Ilan learned from his father to generations to come.

In leading our congregational worship in partnership with our rabbi, Cantor Davidson incorporates traditional modes of Jewish prayer, along with contemporary Jewish songwriting, weaving a variety of musical genres through several devotional styles – traditional Shabbat service, musical Shabbat service, as well as healing and meditation services. This effort to integrate the full range of our tradition into the spiritual experiences of our congregation engages congregants that may have responded to just one kind of service. As Cantor Davidson often says, “I want to please everybody some of the time.”

Among Cantor Davidson’s responsibilities include coordination of the adult and youth choirs. He selects the music, rehearses the vocalists, and brings their full expression of prayer in song to our High Holidays services. To the delight of his students and the congregation, the choir’s repertoire incorporates contemporary Jewish music to enrich our musical Shabbat services, Hanukkah celebrations, and family Shabbat services. In addition, each spring Cantor Davidson takes the choir on tour to locales in the Western U.S.

Cantor Davidson teaches our B’nai Mitzvah students, helping them learn the art of Torah and Haftorah cantillation, preparing them to lead the community in prayer. Also, working with the Temple’s Torah School, Cantor Davidson nurtures his students from preschool to adulthood, instilling in our children love for the vibrancy of Judaism in their lives and a love for Jewish music. Currently, he is also the Youth Engagement Coordinator for the Temple. In this capacity he teaches love of Judaism through formal educational, youth programs, and his relationship with Camp Newman and other URJ camps.

Cantor Davidson is a consummate artist and a devoted social activist. Often these two passions combine in a beautiful way. Ilan takes his masterful art to the community; he has given concerts in Israel as well as throughout the United States. Performing sacred as well as secular music, from Bimah to Broadway, he shows the world how beautiful music warms hearts, stirs souls, and heals the world. In 2008 Cantor Davidson created a nonprofit organization, Kindred Spirits, a humanitarian foundation that has produced concerts and golf tournaments – events designed to raise awareness and funds for partnering aid organizations. Cantor Davidson is a past the president of the South Coast Interfaith Council and, in 2017, he was appointed Vice President of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations by Supervisor Janice Hahn.

In 2001 Cantor Davidson married his beautiful wife, Jodi. They are the proud parents of Jordan Rebecca and Zoe Lauren. It is in this loving and supportive family that Cantor Davidson finds balance, joy and help, indispensable for the work that he does at Temple Beth El as well as in the broader San Pedro and Los Angeles communities.

Educator Racheli Morris

Racheli Morris joined Temple Beth El as our new Educator on July 1st, 2018. She was most recently the Director of Education at Temple Beth El in Riverside, where she has been for the past three years. Concurrently, she is a lecturer in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches Modern Hebrew and Israeli Culture, and developed their Modern Hebrew Syllabus for fundamental and intermediate levels of Hebrew. She was also the Hebrew coordinator at Kadima Elementary Day School in Los Angeles. Racheli has earned a United States patent and has published a series of articles on the Jewish Holidays.

Racheli is a sabra, born in Haifa. She was raised in the Golan Heights. She received a certiﬁcate in Teaching Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the Jewish Agency for Israel in Tel Aviv. She moved to Virginia Beach in 1985 and to California in 1990. She received her degree from UCI in Psychology and Social Behavior and then returned to spend a year in Israel at Hebrew University. In addition, Racheli has earned two Master Degrees in Education and Management from Middlebury College, Vermont and from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. She is completing her Doctorate in the Science of Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning.

Racheli has published two books, ‘Celebrate the Jewish Holidays’, and ‘Numbers that Count’ for children.

Rabbi Emeritus David Lieb

Rabbi David S. Lieb, z’l was the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of San Pedro from 1971 through 2005, and was our Rabbi Emeritus from 2005 until his passing. Born and raised in Chicago, he received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois. He was ordained at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, in 1969 and then served as an Army chaplain for two years at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. In 1994, Rabbi Lieb received the Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College. A longtime resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, Rabbi Lieb died at his home in Indio, California on Saturday, March 8, 2008.